Curtain and portiere hanger



W. RAKOWSKI. FCUHTMN AND PORTlTIRE HANGER.

APPucATloN man ocT.14,1919.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

flare/c5011'. W [Pa/60.506.121)- WLADISLAUS RAKOWSKI, OF SOUTH BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.

CURTAIN AND PORTIERE HANGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

Application filed October 14, 1919. Serial No. 330,643.

To all wwm t may concern.'

lle it known that l, lVLADIsLAUs Renowsnr, citizen of Poland, residing at South Bethlehem, in the county of Northampton and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Curtain and Portiere Hangers, or" which the following is specilication.

T his invention relates to an improved curtain and portire hanger and has as one of its principal objects to provide a device of this character which maj, without the use of hooks or other fastening devices, be readily secured in position upon a window casing and which, when in place, will present a neat and attractive appearance.

rlhe invention has as a further object to provide a hanger which may be readily connected to window casings of different widths, the device being adapted in this regard for substantially universal use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a hanger which will eliminate the use or" the ordinary curtain pole, pins, and rings while, at the same time, a curtain or portiere will be securely7 held thereby.

And the invention has as a still further object to provide a hanger which will be of simple construction and which may be economically produced.

`Gther and incidental objects will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a rear perspective view of my improved hanger,

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the device, and

' Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 8 3 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

ln carrying the invention into effect, I employ a body strip or bar 10. This strip may be formed of wood or other approved material and ot any desired width. At its outer side the strip may also be suitably ornaniented and in the drawings I have shown the strip grooved to resemble a strip of molding. Suitably connected with the body strip at its ends are laterally and rearwardly directed. end pieces orblocls 11 of a nature similar to the strip. Adjacent its upper edge the strip carries at its rear .side a pair oi' spaced guides 13. These guides may each be formed from a piece of resilient sheet metal including a body plate slit adjacent its ends from opposite side edges thereof to deue pairs of lugs. The lugs of each pair are bent rearwardly and inwardly toward each other to provide a guide loop 14, the loops, of course, lying at the ends of the body plate. The body plates et the guides may be connected to the strip 10 in any approved nianner and carry attaching jaws 15 having Shanks 15 slidably received through the loops of the respective guides. The jaws are each preferably formed from a suitable resilient metallic strip bent latera ly and rearwardly adjacent one end and then again bent at substantially right angles to define the jaw, the outer end portion of the jaw lying' in substantially parallel relation to the shank thereof. The outer end portions of the jaws are preferably notched to define prongs and extending between the aw Shanks at their inner ends is a contractile spring 1'? connecting the jaws. As will be seen, this spring will thus act to retract both of the jaws for urging the jaws to active position. However, if desired, a separate spring for each jaw may be employed, the inner ends of the springs being suitably secured to the body strip 10.

Mounted upon the body strip at its rear side is a horizontally extending cleat 18 disposed immediately below the guides 13. rlhis cleat, like the body strip, may be formed of wood or other approved material and may be connected to the body strip in any pre ferred manner, the cleat being preferably engaged at its ends with the end blocks 11. Below the cleat, the body strip is, as particularly shown in F ig. 3, cut away to provide a jaw receiving recess 19 having a bottom wall sloping forwardly toward the bottoni edge of the strip to denne a shoulder 2O the lower side oi said recess. in said recess is a pair oi fabric gripping jaws 21 arranged end to end and substantially occupying the enti-r space between the end blocks 11. rihe jaws are oblong in general outline and are each preferably formed from a length oi suitable resilient wire bent to provide the parallel sides and ends respectively of the jaw, one end of the wire being looped about the oppbsite end portion thereof at the junction of the upper side and outer end ot the jaw for connecting the ends of the wire and closing the jaw. Formed from the lower sides of the jaws at points substantially midway between the ends thereof, are upwardly anu rearwardly curved loops 22 and pivo ally supporting lormally seated j the jaws is a plurality of staples 23 embracing the upper sides of the jaws, the staples, of course, being driven into the body strip 10 and a pair of staples being disposed adjacent each end of the respective jaws. Surrounding the upper sides of the jaws between each pair of staples is a helical spring 24. Corresponding end portions. of these springs are inserted beneath the cleat 1S to be secured thereby while opposite corresponding end portions of said springs are engaged. with the ends of the jaws. rlhe springs will thus act to forcibly hold the jaws closed abutting at their lower sides with the inclined wall of the recess 19, the lower sides of the jaws normally lying, as particularly illustrated in Fig.y 3, immediately above the shoulder 20. As will be readily apparent, the loops 22 will provide thumb lugs or vwings by which the jaws may be readily swung upwardly to open position and suitably connected to the cleat 1S above said loops are hooks 25. fis brought out in Fig. 1, these hooks may, after the jaws have been swung upwardly, be engaged with the loops for holding the jaws open. Consequently, the upper margins of a pair of curtains or portieres may be readily arranged within the recess 19 beneath the jawsY when, upon release of the jaws, said jaws will act to firmly clamp the curtains and thus firmly secure the curtains in place, it being particularly observed in this connection that the jaws will act to bind the upper margins of the curtains between the lower sides of the jaws and the shoulder 2O so that slipping of the curtains will be efectually prevented.

In use, the device is mounted adjacent the upper end of a window casing to extend transversely thereof, the jaws 15 being first spread apart so as to confront the outer edges of the facing strips of the casing. Consequently, after the device has l een positioned as desired, the jaws may then be released when said jaws will be retracted by the spring 17 to grip said facing strips for effectually supporting the device in pla-ce. Curtains or portieres connected to the device 'will accordingly properly hang in front ofV ft is intended that the window opening. when the device is thus applied the end yblocks 11 will abut the wall at opposite sides of the window casing. These blocks will thusY conceal the mechanism at the rear of the body strip 10 so that the device will present a neat and attractive appearance. It will accordingly be seen that l provide a -hirhl effective construction for the aurpose set forth and while l have disclosed the'preferred embodiment of the invention still, as will be seen, various minor changes in detail may be readily made. l accordingly reserve the right to make all such changes as may fall within the scope of the ap )ended claims.

^ aving thus described what is claimed as new is:

1. A. device of the character described including a body bar, attaching means for the bar, and a spring pressed fabric gripping jaw carried by the bar and normally coacting therewith. V

2. A device of the character described including a body bar, attaching means therefor, and a pair of spring pressed fabric gripping jaws pivotally mounted on the bar and normally coacting therewith.

3. A device of the character described including a body bar, spring pressed fabric gripping jaws carried thereby and normally coacting with the bar, attaching jaws slidable upon the bar, and yieldable means normally retracting said last mentioned jaws to active position.

l. A device of the character described including a body bar, spring pressed fabric gripping jaws carried thereby and normally coacting with the bar, guides carried by the bai', companion attaching jaws slidable through said guides, and yieldable means connecting said last mentioned jaws at their inner ends and'acting to retract both of the jaws to active position.

5. A device of the character described including a body bar provided with a recess defining aV shoulder, attaching means for the bar, and a spring pressed fabric gripping aw pivoted upon the bar and normally seating in said recess to confront said shoulder.

(3. A device of the character described including a body bar, attaching means therefor, and a skeleton fabricgripping jaw pivoted upon the bar and normally held closed to coact therewith.

7.' A. device of the character described including a body bar, attaching means therefor, and a spring pressed fabric gripping jaw pivoted upon the bar and normally held closed to coact therewitln said jaw J being formed from a length of material bent to define the jaw.

8. A device of cludin'g a body bar, attaching for, a'spring pressed fabric jivoted upon the barv and closed to coact therewith., the jaw being provided with a thumb lug for swinging the jaw to open position, and means connected with the bar and engageable with said lug fori holding the jaw open.

ln testimony whereof l affix my signature.-

f wtiiiistnis mrowsin. [tsj the invention,

the character Vdescribed inmeansV thereripping jawV normally held 

